French Essentials For Dummies

Just the core concepts you need to write and speak French correctly If you have some knowledge of French and want to polish your skills, French Essentials For Dummies focuses on just the core concepts you need to communicate effectively. From conjugating verbs to understanding tenses, this easy–to–follow guide lets you skip the suffering and score high at exam time. French 101 — get the lowdown on the basics, from expressing dates and times to identifying parts of speech Gender matters — see how a noun′s gender determines the articles, adjectives, and pronouns you have to use The here and now — learn how to conjugate verbs in the present tense, choose subject pronouns, and form the present participle Way back when — get guidance on working with the past tense, including hints about when to use the compound past (passé composé) and when to use the imperfect What lies ahead — discover the different ways to express the future Open the book and find: A review of numbers, dates, and times The parts of speech How to determine a noun′s gender How to select the correct preposition Rules for making adjectives agree Tips for asking and answering yes/no questions Ways to spice up your descriptions Ten important verb distinctions Learn: The basics of French grammar and sentence construction How to conjugate regular, irregular, and stem–changing verbs To express ideas about the past, present, and future

Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Getting Down to Basics 5 Chapter 2: Narrowing the Gender Gap 19 Chapter 3: It’s Happening in the Present 43 Chapter 4: Being Descriptive and Connecting Your Thoughts 67 Chapter 5: Connecting with Prepositions 87 Chapter 6: Asking and Answering Questions 95 Chapter 7: Uncovering the Past 107 Chapter 8: Foreseeing the Future 123 Chapter 9: Recognizing Verb Moods 131 Chapter 10: Ten Important Verb Distinctions 151 Appendix: Verb Charts 157 Index 171

Laura K. Lawless is the author of three language websites (French, Spanish, and English) and several successful language titles including Intermediate French For Dummies . Zoe Erotopoulos , PhD has taught French for more than 30 years. She is the author of French Verbs For Dummies .